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portendo

Etymology and origin of the Latin word portendo

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*ten-)

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [pɔrˈtɛn.doː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [porˈtɛn.do][1]

Forms

portendō (present infinitive portendere, perfect active portendī, supine portentum); third conjugation[1] Plautus has the infinitive portendier.[2]

Etymology

It is from the prefix ⟨por-⟩ “forth” and tendō “to stretch”, an old religious form beside prōtendō.[3][4][2] The TLL compares ⟨por-⟩ in porrigō and polliceor and Umbrian ⟨purdouitu⟩.[4] De Vaan traces ⟨tendō⟩ to Proto-Italic *tend-, Proto-Indo-European *ten-d(ʰ)- (“to stretch”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short cite Plautus' Poenulus.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

A religious term, it meant of omens to indicate a future event, good or bad, portend, presage, foretell, often in the passive, as in Cicero's Dē dīvīnātiōne, and also of prophets.[3][7] Etymonline gives its literal sense as “to stretch forward”.[8]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to predict, foretell, portend, indicate.[9] English portend (early 15th century) is from it.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of omens.[7][6]
  • early 15th century – English portend is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To portend, presage, foretell.[3][2]

Word family

  • portentum
  • portentus
  • tendō
  • prōtendō
  • English portend
  • English portent

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Portendo.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/portendo. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·